So Much Synth

Starred review from April 18, 2016
Shaughnessy (Our Andromeda) finds ever new ways to rend the heart in this biting and poignant anthropological study of girlhood and adolescence. The opening poem, “I Have a Time Machine,” sets the tone for the four-part collection, simmering in the obsessive nature of regrets and paths not taken. Her lush snapshots of youth portray triumph, anger, and agony, the poet unashamed to explore the abscesses of adolescence. “Dress Form,” a first-person confessional of self-esteem and body issues, pinpoints the rationale behind such self-inflicted wounds: “Like I learned: no dress could ever be// beautiful or best if it had me in it.” Shaughnessy uses language in a way that honors the power of imagery. This depiction of girlhood is not meant to serve as a unifier of personal experiences, but as the nuanced experience of growing up as a woman of color in a world dominated by white men. This is apparent in powerhouse poems such as “Gay Pride Weekend, S.F., 1992” and “Is There Something I Should Know?” The latter, a long poem that forms the collection’s fierce core, is a sweeping love letter to the poet’s young daughter as well as a powerful indictment of rape culture and the white and/or male gaze. “This is not a book anyone wants to read,” Shaughnessy writes, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

May 15, 2016

Replete with references to rock musicians and other cultural icons, this fourth collection (after Our Andromeda) from National Book Critics Circle finalist Shaughnessy intimately looks at growing up female. The 28-page "Is There Something I Should Know?" describes the confusion and vulnerability of a schoolgirl taught nothing about her changing body or sex. All in couplets, the poem offers engaging writing ("Before pubescence's acrid synthesis--those 700 days--/ I was a kid: all glossy grubby greatness, jumping through// sprinklers") but too often reads like a prose essay ("I wouldn't have to diet/ or worry about my clothes or how awkward my jokes were"). Compare this to her description of her body as an adult in "Wound": "As if to woo/ not to wow.// I didn't dazzle like I expected/ to. My body, // interracial & grumous." Several poems describe love affairs, including "Gay Pride Weekend, S.F., 1992" and "Why I Stayed, 1997-2001," which honestly depicts a violent lesbian relationship. Occasionally, language and topic meld into vivid writing, yet in many places these poems lack music and metaphor. Still, when topic, insight, and language meet, the sensuality of daily life is effectively captured. VERDICT An exciting if imperfect collection that celebrates love, gay pride, and womanhood: "Isn't blood a woman's ink?"[See Prepub Alert, 12/7/15.]--Doris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN

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